And It Sounds Like Home
by foreverwriting9
Summary: Jane wants to say something about how he's going to save her from all this, that he'll fix it for her, but somehow it comes out as 'let me hypnotize you', and then she's gone. Spoilers for 'Red Badge'.


It's almost blindingly sunny up on the roof, and Jane leans back in his chair for a moment, squinting up into the sky. "I know you lied about the alibi," he says casually, foot bumping into Lisbon's underneath the table.

"I didn't lie." The slight crease between her eyebrows gives her away.

He stares at her for a beat too long, and she knows he's reading her. (She hates it.) "I don't know what you were doing on Tuesday night, but you weren't watching TV."

"I didn't lie." Maybe if she says it enough it'll be true. "He made risotto."

If the situation weren't so stressful and couldn't possibly end with Lisbon being arrested, Jane might laugh. She is _such _a bad liar. "Now this is just insulting. You going to continue lying?" The smirk tugs at his lips.

She spreads her hands out on the table and then looks at him. "I can't remember," she admits on a sigh. "I can't remember what I did Tuesday night."

Jane wants to say something about how he's going to save her from all this, that he'll fix it for her, but somehow it comes out as _let me hypnotize you_, and then she's gone.

"It's all right," he says to the sun and the clouds. "She'll be back."

(He's right of course.)

XXX

She's anxious before they even get to her apartment.

"Lisbon," he taps the hand that's gripping the steering wheel, "calm down. It's not like I'm going to possess you, or poison your mind."

Lisbon bites back a harsh retort and just looks at him.

"Do we need to do another trust fall?" he asks, and she rolls her eyes.

"No."

"I'll catch you."

She just lets the sentence hang in the still air of her car.

XXX

Jane needs Lisbon to feel safe, but he's not sure that he's the right person to make her feel that way (he doesn't exactly exude protection).

He has to try though, for her.

"Listen to me, Lisbon. All the stress would have to melt away. You'd have to feel calm and relaxed, and very safe..."

He's surprised when she succumbs to him so easily.

Almost as soon as he finishes talking, Lisbon starts leaning in toward him, and he can't help but reach out and steady her, wrapping one hand around her shoulder. She glances up at him from under her lashes, and she suddenly looks so confused and sad and _small_.

Jane pulls her forward slightly then, dropping one hand to her waist. "Sleep."

He forgets sometimes that Lisbon is broken. (She's so good at hiding it.) He forgets that things he says can hurt her, he forgets that she knows how to cry, and most of the time, he forces himself to forget that she has feelings for him. (He can see it in her eyes.)

XXX

Jane doesn't leave when she asks him to, because it's _Lisbon_, and he can't just walk out on her. (He's never been good at following her instructions.)

His fingers slide up her arm and stop at her elbow, tugging her forward.

"Jane-"

"Shh, Lisbon," he says, and pulls her into his chest, "I'm not going to leave you alone." His fingers slip into her hair, and he holds her there, breath hitching slightly when her fingers grasp his lapels tightly. "Everything will be OK."

She shakes her head against his shoulder. "It's hopeless." Her voice cracks.

"No, it's not. Not yet, I promise," Jane says as he pulls back to look her in the eye. "Have faith, Lisbon."

XXX

Lisbon stands in front of her window, half dressed and feeling oddly hollow, watching several agents shove Dr. Carmen in the back of a car. She smells Jane before she sees him (an interesting combination of cologne and arrogance that now seems to coat her apartment), and she rolls her eyes as he sidles up next to her. Jane glances out the window, chuckles, and then turns to look at Lisbon.

(He doesn't touch her, and she wishes that he would.)

"So we uh, we did it," he says with a lop-sided smile as he slides his hands into his pockets.

"We did," she agrees, tugging down on the hem of her jersey. Jane's gaze darts to her bare legs, and then slowly moves back up to her face.

"Good job, Lisbon," he says huskily, reaching forward to touch her wrist lightly. "Good job."

This time he leaves without her asking.


End file.
